Michael Robbins

I have always been impressed by a saying of Picasso's: "All of my art is simply an accident that I have made meaningful." In a similar vein, Heidegger says our lives are "thrown possibility". So, when I begin a painting, I sometimes start by actually throwing paint at the canvas. I also use old disposable pallets as collage material because they are laden with the accidental history of a creative process. I try not to think about making art, I am simply playing, like a kid in the sandbox. Soon I start to notice beautiful accidents and an emergent composition. I start to listen to a rhythm that is embedded in the image and dialogue with it. Usually, I listen to music while I am creating to keep me in touch with my body. I literally dance with the paint and try to let it surprise me. Sometimes I fight with an image and stomp away in frustration and disgust. Sometimes it is ecstatic, like good love making. Throughout the process, I am cultivating an attitude of radical openness and discovery and inviting the unpredictable current of Life to be expressed through me.

Michael Robbins is a psychotherapist, artist, poet, Taoist meditation and Qi Gong teacher who lives and works in Somerville, Massachusetts. To find out more about Micheal and his work you can visit http://www.michaelrobbinstherapy.com or email him at michaelrobbins@gmail.com